Susanna Kittredge – The Sun Stakes Its Claims


Susanna Kittredge

The Sun Stakes Its Claims

I.      This is confidential information

         I know of a man whose family
         lives by television light.
         They’re all mad.
         It’s not the television.
         but their indifference to the sun
         that makes this obvious.

II.     The mole is a solitary mammal

         My friend David works the night shift
         and when he emerges on weekends
         into the sky shine of a New York morning,
         you can see that his skin has become translucent.
         The veins beneath his eyes
         have forgotten how to hide themselves.
         He exercises regularly,
         and he keeps a little bit of sky in his irises.
         This is all that saves him from perversity.

III.    Seasonally affective

         I get tired in the gray of winter.
         I might die without the glare off this page.

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